Abstract

The excessive accumulation of biogenic amines (BAs) in aquatic products poses serious health risks, necessitating the development of rapid and sensitive detection methods. This study reports the synthesis of a novel fluorescent nanocomposite, carbon-dot-embedded covalent organic frameworks (CDs@COFs). Comprehensive characterization (TEM, XPS, FTIR, UV–Vis, and fluorescence spectroscopy) confirmed the successful fabrication of the nanocomposites, which exhibited excellent thermal and optical stability. A significantly enhanced quantum yield of 36.22% (compared with 12.92% for pure carbon dots) was obtained. As a fluorescent probe, the composite enabled the detection of nine BAs based on a fluorescence quenching mechanism. The proposed method demonstrated good linearity (1~100 ng/mL) and low detection limits of 0.58~0.98 ng/mL. The method was successfully applied to analyze tyramine in large yellow croaker, showing accurate spike recoveries ranging from 91.93% to 101.43% and excellent reproducibility (RSD < 3%). These results highlight the great potential of the developed method as a powerful tool for the rapid screening of BAs in aquatic products.